Updated 11th August 2008

2008 BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES
With the men's and women's qualification subdivisions now complete congratulations to Sam Simpson and our women's team of Dasha Joura, Lauren Mitchell, Olivia Vivian, Ashleigh Brennan, Georgia Bonora, and Shona Morgan for their great results.

Men's Artistic:
Sam Simpson competed in subdivision 3 on Saturday 9th August and posted the following results:-
FX - 14.550, PH - 14.000, RG - 13.800, VT - 15.600, PB - 14.200, HB - 13.475

Congratulations to Sam who produce his best performance at a major international competition finishing 39th in a 98-man field with an All-Around score of 85.625.

Women's Artistic:
Our women's team competed in subdivision 3 on Sunday 10th August and posted the following results:-

Shona Morgan: FX - 14.525, VT - 14.700, UB - 14.500, BM - 15.350
Georgia Bonora: FX - 14.525, VT - 14.850, UB - 14.500, BM - 15.025
Ashleigh Brennan: FX - 14.650, VT - 14.775, UB - 13.700, BM - 14.150
Lauren Mitchell: FX - 14.650, VT - 14.725, BM - 14.100
Dasha Joura: FX - 13.450, VT - 15.100, UB - 15.125, BM - 12.475
Olivia Vivian: UB - 14.925

The team qualified in fifth place to the Team Final which will take place on Wednesday 13th August. A great result for a very well deserving team.

In a cruel twist of fate, Dasha Joura injured her ankle landing short on a double layout last week. The injury ruled her out of training all of last week and threatened to keep her from competing at all. In an effort to lift the team score and help the team to qualify for the Team Final competition, Dasha bravely competed on all four apparatus contributing valuable scores on both the Vault and Uneven Bars.

The real stars of the team were teammates Shona Morgan and Georgia Bonora who hit four for four and between them counted seven out of a possible eight scores to the team total. A sensational effort that has earned both gymnasts a place in the All-Around Final which will take place on Friday 15th August.

For full results please click here.

DOWNLOAD - AOC's GYMNASTICS OLYMPIC TEAM HANDBOOK

DOWNLOAD - GA's ELITE ATHLETE MEDIA GUIDE

DOWNLOAD - AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION TIMES

DOWNLOAD - SUBDIVISION COMPETITION TIMES

Yahoo!7 is the official online broadcaster of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. They are proud to help promote the Australian gymnastics team and feature their events and performances in detail on their site.

Their brand new Olympics site features profiles of every single athlete, latest results, a competition schedule for every sport, information about the various venues in Beijing, and after the events they will be the only place to get video highlights of all the action online. You can expect plenty of lively debate on their message boards, and some informative answers to interesting questions within the special Yahoo!7 Answers Olympics section (where the wisdom of Gymnastics Australia members would be most welcome!).

Below is a list of handy links:

Olympics news – The latest news stories from Beijing and around the world.

Olympics photos – Award winning photos from every venue and sport.

Beijing Olympics videos – There will be hours of unique video content from Channel Seven’s coverage, including live streaming of selected events, plus special features from our own roving reporter otherwise known as ‘The Fanatic’.

Australian Olympic team news – The latest news on our entire Australian Olympic team.

Event schedule – Daily competition schedule, including information on all Olympic heats and finals.

Olympic blogs – Personal diary entries from several of our Olympic hopefuls, Olympic silver medalist Tatiana Grigorieva, not to mention a variety of Channel 7’s Beijing-bound commentary team.

Olympic Answers – Ask and answer Olympics-related questions.

Olympics message board – Share your views with other Australians.

Competitions – Special Olympic Games competitions with some fantastic prizes up for grabs.

GYMNASTICS WEEK 2008 - GET BEHIND OUR ATHLETES
GymWeek 2008 if off to a flying start with clubs around Australia celebrating this national event.

If you have not done so already, why don't you consider adopting an Olympic athlete and following their progress, sending them a Herogram or purchasing products that featuring aussie gymnastics heroes to decorate your home or gym.

You can still download the colouring-in pages, one for each Gymsport, as well as find information on the Local Heroes Competition.

Check out the GymWeek website for great Olympic Games lesson ideas and activities.

To help you get started and get the most out of GymWeek, Gymnastics Australia has prepared a range of resources available to download from a special web site. Please click the link above.

Available resources will include:

Enjoy Gymweek 2008.

PASSING OF A MEMBER - ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN
It is with great sadness that we heard that Andrew McLaughlin has passed away following a tragic workplace accident in Port Hedland.

The GA Board and staff wish to express our deepest sympathy to Andrew's wife Cathy and children Claire, Emma and Travis.

Andrew has been involved in gymnastics in the North West Region for over 20 years. When Andrew arrived in the Pilbara from the UK in 1983 there was little or no gymnastics within the region, Andrew is acknowledged has having been one of the significant driving forces in establishing and continuing to nurture and grow gymnastics within both Port Hedland and the North West Region.

At this difficult time our thoughts are with the family and friends of Andrew.

MEN'S ARTISTIC - U/17 NATIONAL SQUAD ANNOUNCED
The MAG Selection Committee has announced the athletes selected to the Under 17 National Squad. Congratulations to the following athletes on achieving this milestone:-

2008/09 U17 NATIONAL SQUAD:
Ben Astley
Jack Rickards
Briece Newton
Tomoki Ohashi
Matthew Goonatillake
Callum Smith
Kevin James
Mitchell Morgans
Alexander Hunt

MEN'S ARTISTIC - SENIOR NATIONAL SQUAD
Congratulations to Aaron Thanas who has be included on the Senior National Squad for the period June - December 2008 based on a successful injury petition.

2008/09 SENIOR NATIONAL SQUAD:
Josh Jefferis
Sam Simpson
Thomas Pichler
Philippe Rizzo
John Carroll
Sam Offord
Luke Wiwatowski
Prashanth Sellathurai
Michael Donnett
Mathew Curtis
Aaron Thanas

MEN'S ARTISTIC - 2008 MAG OPEN TOUR
Congratulations to John Hargreaves (TAS) who has been appointed Team Manager for the 2008 MAG Open Tour to New Zealand and to Mark Forrest (NSW) on his appointment as Head Coach.

The team entries were finalized last week and congratulations to the following gymnasts on their selection to the team:-

Level 8:
Luke Anderson NSW
Guy Tooms NT
Michael Tonegato NSW
Robin Shearer QLD
Brendon Lee QLD
Nicholas Mortimer NSW

Level 9:
Takuto Ichihara ACT
Samuel Weatherhog QLD
Aaron Bruce NSW
Shawn Rogers QLD

Level 10:
Matthew Angel NSW
David Rodgers NSW

Officials:
John Hargreaves TAS Team Manager
Mark Forrest NSW Head Coach
Matthew Whitland NSW Team Coach/Judge
Greg Smyth QLD Team Coach/Judge
Debbie Rodgers NSW - Chaperone

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S NATIONAL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS - ENTRY FORMS
Provisional and definitive entries forms for the MAG and WAG National Club Championships are now available from the event web site. Please click here to view a copy.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS - E-NEWS ISSUE 2 RELEASED
The 2nd edition of the E-News has been produced by the National SMC and emailed to all gymnasts, coaches, judges and clubs. If you did not receive it, please click here to download your copy.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS - NAAZMI JOHNSTON
Gymnastics Australia and the RG community wish Naazmi Johnston every success at the 2008 Olympic Games. Naazmi and her coach Gina Peluso depart Australia on the 16 August. The qualification rounds of competition for the Individual All Around will be held on the 21-22 August with the finals on the 23 August 2008.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS - 2008 RG SKOOLGIRLS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Skoolgirls National Championships will be held in Sydney on the 18th October 2008 at PLC Sydney in Croydon. The event information and entry forms can be found on the Gymnastics Australia website located under Events - National.

For further information please contact Karon Williams or Nicole Higham

PERTH MINT GOES FOR GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE AT BEIJING
The Perth Mint has released commemorative gold, silver and bronze coins celebrating the Australian Olympic Team's participation at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Authorised by the Australian Olympic Committee, the suite includes a prestigious 10g coin struck from 99.99% pure gold in proof quality. The coin's reverse depicts the Australian 'Flags and Rings' Olympic logo in colour surrounded by stylised representations of the Sydney Opera House and the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

The suite also includes an impressive 1oz coin struck from 99.9% pure silver in proof quality, which features the coloured 'Flags and Rings' logo and a stylised athlete intertwined with an image of a traditional Chinese dragon.

Housed in red presentation display cases, the coins are restricted to limited mintages reflecting the auspiciousness of the number '8' in Chinese culture. No more than 2,008 pure gold coins and a maximum of 8,808 pure silver coins will be released.

Both coins are also available in a Three-Coin Set including an aluminium bronze $1 coin depicting the 'Flags and Rings' logo with images of a boxing kangaroo and a Chinese dragon. No more than 888 of these sets will be released.

Issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965, all three coins bear the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

Available from The Perth Mint Shop, located at 310 Hay Street, East Perth, or on FREECALL 1800 098 817, the Three-Coin Set retails at $890.00, while individual gold and silver coins cost $795.00 and $95.00 respectively. In stock at Australia Post outlets and other leading coin distributors, the Australian Olympic Team commemorative releases can also be purchased via The Perth Mint's online store at www.perthmint.com.au

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